What Just Happened To A Former White House Hotshot Makes Obama Himself Look Like A Loser

The Washington Post calls it a close and contentious political showdown that is “shaping up as the latest front in the battle over the future of the Democratic Party.”

The pivotal race that’s the subject of the Post article? The hard-fought contest for mayor of Chicago and how its outcome could ripple through presidential politics.

Once upon a time, it looked as though President Obama’s former White House Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, would have little or no trouble winning re-election to the top political post in the Windy City. But now the winds of change appear to be blowing hard against the incumbent whose challenger, as an article on Breitbart notes, was once labelled by other Democrats as “100% Communist.”

In a surprise to many, Emanuel faces a serious challenge from Cook County Commissioner Jesus “Chuy” Garcia who has come from far back in the polls to narrow the preference gap to single digits. Garcia’s unexpectedly strong performance in last month’s election forced a runoff with Emanuel that’s scheduled for April 7th. It will be the first such runoff in the city’s history.

The article on Breitbart notes:

Two years ago, when former Obama chief of staff Rahm Emanuel won election as Chicago’s mayor, many expected he would have a long reign. It was even thought he’d use his powerful Chicago connections to eventually run for president.

Now, not only is Rahm Emanuel’s faint dream of a White House bid darkened considerably as his political future in Chicago hangs in a precarious balance, but the former Obama hotshot is even casting his long shadow of possible defeat all the way to Washington.

Here’s how that plays out: On Monday, Jesse Jackson — in a move that reflects the growing discontent of Chicago’s black population with their current mayor — endorsed Garcia over Emanuel. The Washington Post notes why Jackson’s endorsement of the far-left Democrat candidate is so significant to Emanuel’s former boss.

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“Jackson’s decision puts him at odds with President Obama, who backs Emanuel, his first White House chief of staff.”

And Post reporter Sean Sullivan points out that Obama’s pre-election visit to Chicago in late February, as well as his campaigning on behalf of his one-time White House official, was insufficient to help Emanuel score an outright win and avoid a runoff.

Obama visited Chicago just days before the Feb. 24 election to dedicate the city’s first national monument in an area where African American porters organized the nation’s first black labor union.

He also swung by an Emanuel campaign office and has appeared in ads for the mayor.

As for Garcia, once a little-known politician, his populist appeal and ambiguous pledges to champion the disadvantaged and “stop giving taxpayer subsidies to the wealthiest,” seem to echo what many liberals are looking for in a far-left national candidate.

Writing for the New York Daily News, political analyst James Warren warns that a loss for Rahm Emanuel in Chicago could be seen as a strong voter signal that even Hillary Clinton is not liberal enough for today’s extremist Democrats.

But even as Emanuel’s profane personality is a pressing issue, the race is already being spun nationally and by some locally as a referendum on status quo politics that, yes, you, Mrs. Clinton, also represent.

A Garcia victory would be taken as further proof you’re vulnerable to a left-of-center rival, like Elizabeth Warren, who could exploit the free-floating discontent out there in the Democratic electorate.